Current events in the words of the students of Vinod Gupta School of Management, IIT Kharagpur

#Budget 2017

The following article is based on my own interpretation of the said events and/ or publicly available information. Any material borrowed from published and unpublished sources has been appropriately referenced. I will bear the sole responsibility for anything that is found to have been copied or misappropriated or misrepresented in the following post.

The country is fast moving from desktops to handled devices and smartphones are improving in their penetration and ease. This highlights the prominence of mobile banking in our lives. Quick adaption by a large chunk of the population, though sudden and to some extent forced, to mobile banking and e-wallets was one of the saving graces during demonetization. Making smartphones more affordable and promoting cheaper data services will be one of the key expectations. Affordable mobile handset or consumer durable items of a certain price limit may be given concessions on duties.

For the e-commerce market, particularly, major businesses have demanded clarity of FDI in B2C e-commerce through automatic route. Last year, the government allowed FDI into B2C e-commerce but disallowed the marketplaces like Flipkart and Snapdealto offer discounts to consumers thus ending the discount wars. Though consumers enjoyed the discount wars, brick and mortar stores claimed they suffered hugely due to such business tactics.

The government will want to put the country back on the high growth path. So, improving customer confidence and consumer spending will be vital as well.